Bush should stay away from cloning

By MARIANNE MEANS, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST

Published
10:00 pm PST, Monday, December 3, 2001

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's premature and ill-informed condemnation of the human cloning experiments of a private Massachusetts company was in sharp contrast to his prolonged pondering over whether to deny federal funds for stem-cell research. He ended that deliberation by allowing the research to continue but on a limited basis.

The issues of cloning and stem-cell research are not identical, although they are linked in the minds of those whose religion teaches that life begins at conception rather than later when the fetus "quickens," as people in some other religions believe.

Bush's emotional overreaction last week made no distinction between cloning to create a human duplicate, which the company says it is not trying to do, and therapeutic cloning aimed at producing stems cells that can fight the world's most terrible diseases, which is the company's goal. The issue is whether reverence for an embryo is more important than the promise of medical cures to prolong life and relieve pain.

"The use of embryos to clone is wrong," Bush snapped, immediately after Advanced Cell Technology of Worchester, Mass., announced it had cloned the world's first human embryos. "We should not as a society grow life to destroy it. And that's exactly what's taking place."

No, it isn't. The president panicked without knowing what he was talking about. He knocked down a straw man. Polls show there is no support in this country or abroad for the cloning of human beings to create their genetic twins, as researchers have done with animals. There are powerful ethical questions about producing artificial humans. But that is not what ACT did.

The definition of "life" depends on whether one believes an embryo is in itself a living human being or a collection of cells with human potential if implanted in a woman's uterus. The researchers insist they will never place a cloned embryo in a woman's uterus. So it could not grow into a baby. The very word "cloning" makes some people hysterical. And the scientific implications are complex and confusing.

It is some stretch to claim that ACT grew "life." It has cloned some embryos to try to harvest their stem cells to combat degenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's for which there is currently no cure. None of the clones, however, lived long enough to produce any stem cells. Much more research has yet to be done.

The laboratory announced the minimal breakthrough anyway in hopes of getting credit for being a pioneer in the field and attracting new financial support.

In many other countries leaders seem to have no trouble distinguishing between cloning for controlled research purposes and cloning to create humans. The European Union recently rejected a proposed ban on human cloning by a 316-37 vote. Britain expressly permits and regulates therapeutic cloning experiments but forbids human cloning. No European state has admitted it would ever permit a human baby to be produced by cloning.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill criminalizing human cloning for any purpose. The Senate, however, has taken no action and been inclined to sympathize more with the scientists and the sick who need improved medical treatment than with the pro-life religious conservatives.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is pressing for a comprehensive anti-cloning measure that would either forbid the practice or impose a six-month moratorium on such research. But Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., is leading a substantial opposition. It is unclear which side has more support, but Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle says he will not schedule a vote on the issue until next year after hearings can be held.

"The scientific community is ready to put forward a very strong case," Specter said. "And I think that case will be persuasive to the Congress."

Bush, of course, won't be listening. His mind is made up. He didn't wait for the facts. Nor did he repeat the thoughtful deliberations he went through in deciding to block funding for research on new stem-cell lines but to continue it on existing cell lines.

He should have stayed out of the new cloning issue, and so should Congress. The science in cloning is coming and can't be stopped. The toothpaste is out of the tube.

If we ban the technology in America, we will fall behind other countries in the search for medical cures. The wise course would be to keep both public and private research legal so that it will be done in the open and can be regulated. The Bush administration doesn't approve of most regulations, but this is one area in which government supervision -- but not suppression -- is needed.